you dropped your bag near the door, exhaustion weighing you down like a weighted cloak. it had been an impossibly long day, and all you wanted was to collapse and let the world dissolve for a while.

“hey, you’re back!” jayce called from the kitchen, his voice bright.

you forced a tired smile as you stepped into the living room. jayce, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened, stood in the middle of a scene that could only be described as chaos. a pot boiled over on the stove, a loaf of bread was on the counter, and what appeared to be the remnants of a recipe book lay open, smudged with flour.

“you’re cooking?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“trying to!” he gestured vaguely at the chaos with a spatula. “i thought, you know, you’ve been working so hard lately… i’d make dinner so you could relax.”

the effort was sweet, but the execution? it was unmistakably jayce. he was brilliant in the lab, but the kitchen? a complete disaster.

you sighed, dropping into a chair at the counter. “jayce, you’re going to burn the place down.”

“no, no, i've got it under control,” he insisted, though the smell of singed sauce begged to differ. he turned back to the stove, stirring furiously. “i wanted it to be nice for you. you’re always running yourself ragged, and you never let yourself just… take a break.”